Reading mode: Light Dark

Which is best external HDD?

Go to last post
J

Justme

Forum Pro
Messages
22,652
Solutions
2
Reaction score
1,323
Location
Ontario., CA
I purchased an external Western Digital MyBook 500GB drive. Connected to PC via USB 2. Had it for about 9 months.

It failed not long ago with bad sectors. I had about 300GB of data on the drive. Hopefully it's still there and retrievable.

I was speaking to a local business that does data recovery and this person mentioned that a lot of these external HDD run too hot. He was aware of the MyBook HDD and wasn't surprised it failed (he gives these drives about a year or so before it acts up). He also said the newer "green" external HDD run cooler and should be good.

What kind of external HDD have you had success with? I was just looking up the Maxtor One Touch 4. Anyone use this?

--

I know you mean well but please do not embed my images into the forum. Thanks for respecting that.
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/some_recent_shots
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/a_red_fox_family

 
I am using a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 G. It can be set to shut down when not in use, which should help. And, it can be turned off manually. For critical data, redundancy is the answer.

I imagine the best combo would be a good drive like Seagate installed by you in a case with a good heatsink and fan for cooling. I'm sure you could find such a case at Newegg.com
The drives in these links are supposed to be very good, but more expensive.
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm
http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2596#top

I'm sure their are others that are also designed for industrial/professional use that have better cooling, etc. than the typical consumer drives.
Good luck,

Mike
 
Mike G. said:
I am using a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 G. It can be set to shut
down when not in use, which should help. And, it can be turned off
manually. For critical data, redundancy is the answer.
I imagine the best combo would be a good drive like Seagate installed
by you in a case with a good heatsink and fan for cooling. I'm sure
you could find such a case at Newegg.com
The drives in these links are supposed to be very good, but more
expensive.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. Just looked at the G Drives. What company makes it? I think the price is very reasonable. It's a LOT more expensive (in time, money and worry) when a drive fails. I will pay for reliability. Are there any reviews for the G Drives which mention how good they are compared to the competition? Next I will find out where they sell them. If I'm going to get a 1 Terabyte HDD to store important data then I wany something reliable. The price thet charge for the 1 Terabyte is reasonable. Just think how much we used to have to pay for this amount of storage space ;)
Mike G.75791 said:
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm
http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2596#top

I'm sure their are others that are also designed for
industrial/professional use that have better cooling, etc. than the
typical consumer drives.
Good luck,

Mike
Click to expand...
--

I know you mean well but please do not embed my images into the forum. Thanks for respecting that.
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/some_recent_shots
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/a_red_fox_family

 
Justme said:
What kind of external HDD have you had success with? I was just
looking up the Maxtor One Touch 4. Anyone use this?
Click to expand...
I've been using WD externals before they were called My Books, a couple
'My Books' and a Comstar. Never had an EXTERNAL drive fail due to hardware
failure.

Losing the included WD driver after formatting is another story...
(always bup the original WD drive info and paste back into after formatting...)

My new "Comstar" 500 GB is the biggest surprise since it cost much less
than the name-brand WD's and it works great! It runs very cool and is fast.
I connect the externals only when I'm backing up stuff and don't leave them
connected all the time... power spikes, lightning and just leaving them
running while connected will wear them out.

I don't use any software programs either to back up - strictly manual drag
and drop / copy and paste here.

WayneB.
 
Build one yourself.

Most of the readymade enclosures use the cheapest HDDs that are available. On top of that: most external HDDs are "forgotten". The PC gets turned off, but the HDD keeps spinning on it's external power supply. Most normal drives don't respond well to this: they're not made for 24x7 operation. So use the best quality drive you can find: WD RE/RE2 series, Seagate ED, etc. As an added bonus most of those drives have a 5 year warranty.

Plus: If you want to secure storage, use RAID to further enhance your security. An Intel SS4200 enclosure can house 4 drives, and protect your data using RAID5. Off course this comes at a price, an cheaper alternative can be found in RAID1 enclosures: as this basicly is a simple copy operation, less processing power is needed, and the enclosure gets cheaper accordingly.
 
The Free Agent Pro I bought at Costco, came with connections for eSATA, USB2 and Firewire 400. The cheaper Free Agent drives have only a USB2 connection. I'm not sure about the software. The pro comes with a backup app. that works quite well for me. And, you can download a disk image app by Acronis from the Seagate site that also works quite well. I run my drive on Firewire, and I have not had any problems. I am aware that some people had eSATA issues.

I will probably build my own using a Seagate drive and a good case, when I need more storage.
Good luck,

Mike
 
Get cheap eSATA/Firewire/USB external enclosure for $30 and SATA WD KS 7200 RPM 750 GB hard drive for $130 from Newegg and you all set:)
Some enclosures are with eSATA brackets, check the spec.

sztajmes
 
Yeah, I have had 2 out of 3 LaCie Big Disks fail in the last 3 years. IMHO these cases are not designed to be powered on for long periods of time. I think overheating is a major factor in failures.

I have switched to a Wiebetech trayless system. I am using the Wiebetech RTX100 to backup and store hard drives offsite. The trayless system is great and allows me to quickly swap drives.
 
I've had drives from Maxtor, Seagate, WD, IBM (now Hitachi), Lacie. I've had a drive from every one of these brands fail. But the brand I have bought the most of is Maxtor - before I learned my lesson. Every one has failed - around 5 or 6 over the last 8 years, plus 2 DOA.
 
I have 2 WD MyBook 500GB HDD hooked up. I installed the proper software. Yet these drives over time (maybe a week or more) suddenly lose the ability to shut off via the WD Button.

Does anyone have a WD HDD MYBook that actually has this working over a long period of time? Or is what I'm experiencing the norm?

I either have to shut down the PC or disconnect the USB cable to shut them down. Any harm in disconnecting the USB cable like that?

--

I know you mean well but please do not embed my images into the forum. Thanks for respecting that.
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/some_recent_shots
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/a_red_fox_family

 
I've had my 500GB My Book since last summer and it is still working fine. I keep it turned off until I need it.
 
Justme said:
I have 2 WD MyBook 500GB HDD hooked up. I installed the proper
software. Yet these drives over time (maybe a week or more) suddenly
lose the ability to shut off via the WD Button.

Does anyone have a WD HDD MYBook that actually has this working over
a long period of time? Or is what I'm experiencing the norm?

I either have to shut down the PC or disconnect the USB cable to shut
them down. Any harm in disconnecting the USB cable like that?
Click to expand...
I had a 350mb one which failed just before the 12 month warranty expired. The button worked on that one. They replaced it with a 500mb one on which the button did nothing, so I assumed it had been made redundant. Anyway, I don't trust it and back it up regularly.

There is no harm in pulling out the usb cable or turning off the power. I find mine goes to sleep after a while.
 
I've been using Seagate FreeAgent Pro drives. Started with one and was happy with it's performance so I dumped two 320 IOGear Tri-select drives and picked up two more of the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750s. If you are using TimeMachine it's great to have such a streamlined back-up system.

Side note: I had a Western Digital 500Gb that was OEM in my 5 month old iMac. It died. Not going to be buying any WD drives anytime soon.

Bill F

http://picasaweb.google.com/faulknerstudios
 
Mike J Evans said:
Justme said:
I have 2 WD MyBook 500GB HDD hooked up. I installed the proper
software. Yet these drives over time (maybe a week or more) suddenly
lose the ability to shut off via the WD Button.

Does anyone have a WD HDD MYBook that actually has this working over
a long period of time? Or is what I'm experiencing the norm?

I either have to shut down the PC or disconnect the USB cable to shut
them down. Any harm in disconnecting the USB cable like that?
Click to expand...
I had a 350mb one which failed just before the 12 month warranty
expired. The button worked on that one. They replaced it with a 500mb
one on which the button did nothing, so I assumed it had been made
redundant. Anyway, I don't trust it and back it up regularly.

There is no harm in pulling out the usb cable or turning off the
power. I find mine goes to sleep after a while.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it would make sense I suppose...disconnecting the USB cable would not make the heads crash....the HDD would just lose communication with the PC. It does shut down after I disconnect the USB cable. By shutting down I mean the light goes out on the box.

--

I know you mean well but please do not embed my images into the forum. Thanks for respecting that.
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/some_recent_shots
http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/a_red_fox_family

 
I have three 500gb drives without problems and they offer 5 years warranty.

I have another seagate 750 and no probs there either. Because of the warranty, seagate is all I get
 
Justme said:
I have 2 WD MyBook 500GB HDD hooked up. I installed the proper
software. Yet these drives over time (maybe a week or more) suddenly
lose the ability to shut off via the WD Button.

Does anyone have a WD HDD MYBook that actually has this working over
a long period of time? Or is what I'm experiencing the norm?

I either have to shut down the PC or disconnect the USB cable to shut
them down. Any harm in disconnecting the USB cable like that?
Click to expand...
I have them connected only when backing up. The WD 'button' works to
shut down if you press for a few seconds on mine. I use a number of
diff makes for external h-d's and use them only when needed. Saves
wear n' tear on them.

WayneB.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top